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The Odyssey trailer reminds everyone that, in the classics, everyone was American I guess

It's cool that some actors in Christopher Nolan's new movie get to speak with their own accents - but only some actors

Published on Tue May 05 2026

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The first full trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has finally been released, and it’s 150 seconds that confirms that the movie will have everything everyone expects from a major motion picture adaptation of Homer’s classic poem: an epic scope! Breathtaking visuals! American accents!

Wait, okay. Let’s revisit that last one.

It’s not that there’s a problem with the many American actors in The Odyssey using their own accent. In fact, that’s somewhat refreshing, considering a tendency for ‘classics’ like this to feature actors speaking in various degrees of authentic English accents, which somehow stand in for ‘what people probably sounded like, back in the day’ for many audience members. We here at Popverse are a fan of actors simply being able to speak in their own voices in historical projects, such as the amazing The Death of Stalin or Red Monarch. The only problem being… that’s not what’s happening here.

Listen to Robert Pattinson’s accent in the trailer, or Tom Holland’s: two very British actors sounding particularly ‘generic American actor accent’ throughout the entire thing. It seems that Christopher Nolan — himself a Brit! — has decided that, in addition to keeping the dialogue of the movie particularly contemporary (“My dad is coming home,” from Holland’s Telemachus, is a particularly anachronistic line and line reading), the characters are all somehow American.

The result is, if nothing else, another bold choice in a movie sure to be full of them. It’s also something that seems to be giving some fans on social media pause about their excitement surrounding the project. Will it be enough to stop The Odyssey from being one of the biggest movies of the year when it’s finally released July 17, 2026? Somehow, I doubt it — but watch the trailer below to see if you feel any different.

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Graeme McMillan: Popverse Editor Graeme McMillan (he/him) has been writing about comics, culture, and comics culture on the internet for close to two decades at this point, which is terrifying to admit. He completely understands if you have problems understanding his accent.